LG's next flagship smartphone is the LG V30, and while we've skipped the continuous drip of information that has been coming out about the device, a slow Monday is a perfect time for a rumor roundup! Maybe "rumor" is not the best way to describe a lot of this information—LG has been sending out non-stop press releases about the V30 all month.

LG already released a flagship this year, the LG G6, but it also has the V series, which is usually a more experimental flagship released in the second half of the year. Last year, the LG V20 had a totally different design from the modular LG G5, but this year, it looks like most of the experimental features are out the door, and we're getting something that looks very much like a "G6 with upgrades."

First up is the screen. LG's press release says the V30 will be sporting a new P-OLED display made in-house by LG. The last time LG dabbled in smartphone OLED panels was during the crazy years of 2013 to 2015, when the company thought physically curved smartphones were a good idea. Those OLED panels were a hot mess, with a grainy and noisy picture, image retention, and uneven brightness.

That was two years ago, though, which is an eternity in the world of tech. Since then LG has been pumping out fantastic-looking OLED panels for televisions, while on the smartphone-side it has mostly stuck with the tried-and-true LCD. Samsung has been the smartphone industry's biggest supplier of OLED panels for some time, but LG jumping into OLED production has apparently caught the attention of several big players. According to The Korea Herald, Apple is in talks to use LG's OLED panels in the next iPhone, while the Yonhap News Agency reports that LG is also in talks with Google, which wants to use LG displays in the Pixel 2.

On the V30, LG is promising a 6-inch, 2880×1440 display with HDR10 support. LG's press release mentions "VR" several times, which probably means the V30 will support Google's Daydream VR standard. With the switch to an 18:9 display like the LG G6, the V20's secondary "ticker" display is no more. The company also showed off the new always-on display mode, which has several styles that show the time and date.

The camera is also expected to be a big focus of the V30. LG dropped a press release promising an F1.6 aperture camera lens, which would be a high mark for a smartphone. While there are many other factors that make for a "good" smartphone camera, a bigger aperture means a camera can capture more light, which usually results in better photos. Also the device will still have a dual-camera setup, which adds an extra wide-angle camera lens.

Next up we have a press release from haptic feedback company Immersion touting the integration of its "HD TouchSense" in the V30. Immersion promises haptic feedback better than the usual vibration, telling 9to5Google, "For example, in the camera app, when you take a picture you feel a shutter click, just like a DSLR; when you adjust camera settings, it feels like you’re spinning a finely tuned mechanical knob. When you dismiss a notification, navigate from one home screen to another, and perform several other interactions, you feel subtle effects that match the animations perfectly, resulting in better usability and perceived design quality."

Finally, the leaks! Production company HitRecord, which LG has worked with in the past, seems to have accidentally leaked videos containing the LG V30. The company quickly pulled the videos, but Droid Life was able to snag a few screenshots. The Korean site ETNews claims the device will have IP68 dust and water resistance, which means the removable battery from the V20 will not be present on the V30. The site also lists a Snapdragon 835 SoC, a first for LG; a 3200mAh battery, a 3.5mm headphone jack (woo!); storage options for 32, 64, and 128GB; and a price of $700 for the 64GB version.

The V30 will be unveiled at IFA 2017 (which somehow stands for "Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin"), Europe's largest consumer electronics show. LG has a press conference scheduled for August 31 at 9am CST.

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Ron Amadeo
Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they work. Emailron@arstechnica.com//Twitter@RonAmadeo

63 Reader Comments

Non-native speaker* but if I had to guess (which I don't but will anyway) it is a vestigial abbreviation from when it was just called the Internationale Funk Ausstellung (Funk being radio and Ausstellung being exhibition/exhibit).

Then at some point the name Funk Ausstellung became Funkausstellung as things do in German.

You're right that the A stands for Ausstellung, but it was never "Funk Ausstellung". German words don't merge with time, you have to put them together right away or it's a typo.

German acronyms are still typically formed based on the initial letters of the subwords: For example, BAföG stands for Bundesausbildungförderungsgesetz. Please don't ask why the f is not capitalized ...

The S8 is one of the weakest design, it is so fragile it cracks and scratches more than the IPhone 7. The curved side screens are so useless that it becomes an issue with video viewing as it gets cropped off due to being bezel-less.

So obviously you don't own an S8... I prefer a metal back but the S8 is very far from the weakest design and in my experience it doesn't scratch more than any other high end phone I have used in my life including aluminum backed phones like the Nexus 6P.

I am holding a S8 right now because of the many discounted deals going on. I think the phone has 3 steps forward and 5 steps back. I have a scratch in the back, it was deeper than any other phones that I've gotten. I should have gotten a case but it is very scratch prone.

The software has improved but the phone has micro-stutter after weeks of usage the stock launch stutters unlike Pixel, HTC, OnePlus launches that never stutters this much.

Camera imo, has the best imaging software right now. Have to check out HTC U11.

The thin bezels imo here is quite useless because it took away the buffer spot for accessing the Edge display. Now with some cases it blocks accessing Edge display. I ended up with a bunch of accidental touch which Samsuck doesn't know how to ignore those touches.

Love the display but hate the 18:10 resolution it's like playing a 16:9 video on a 21:9 monitor.

Bixby blows, kill it and let us remapped the button instead.

You can get scratches also with metal/aluminum backs, one scratch without context doesn't demonstrate that glass is worse for scratches, you were simply unlucky. The only real demonstrated downside of glass is the it can crack more easily with a fall.

Samsung software is still poor, the hardware and design on the other side is easily the best out there. Funny that you complain about the display form factor when it's in fact among my favorite things, almost every app I use adapts perfectly and it feels more expansive while keeping the phone easy to hold. The Bixby button is the worst feature but I simply disabled it.

In the end I'll probably sell it sooner than later because I've been using more the Pixel XL and still like it better because of the software. I'm just waiting for the Pixel XL 2 and Essential phones to try them out, most likely the Pixel XL 2 will win (based on leaks information so we'll see).

Non-native speaker* but if I had to guess (which I don't but will anyway) it is a vestigial abbreviation from when it was just called the Internationale Funk Ausstellung (Funk being radio and Ausstellung being exhibition/exhibit).

Then at some point the name Funk Ausstellung became Funkausstellung as things do in German.

You're right that the A stands for Ausstellung, but it was never "Funk Ausstellung". German words don't merge with time, you have to put them together right away or it's a typo.

German acronyms are still typically formed based on the initial letters of the subwords: For example, BAföG stands for Bundesausbildungförderungsgesetz. Please don't ask why the f is not capitalized ...

I think the real question is why the A is capitalized, since there isn't a German word starting with A in the entire phrase. An explanation for why the other two capitals are in there could be that they're proper nouns, which are typically capitalized in German.

Non-native speaker* but if I had to guess (which I don't but will anyway) it is a vestigial abbreviation from when it was just called the Internationale Funk Ausstellung (Funk being radio and Ausstellung being exhibition/exhibit).

Then at some point the name Funk Ausstellung became Funkausstellung as things do in German.

You're right that the A stands for Ausstellung, but it was never "Funk Ausstellung". German words don't merge with time, you have to put them together right away or it's a typo.

German acronyms are still typically formed based on the initial letters of the subwords: For example, BAföG stands for Bundesausbildungförderungsgesetz. Please don't ask why the f is not capitalized ...

I think the real question is why the A is capitalized, since there isn't a German word starting with A in the entire phrase. An explanation for why the other two capitals are in there could be that they're proper nouns, which are typically capitalized in German.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the point of jamming high end desktop resolutions onto a 6" screen? Im in no way a phone enthusiast, and am honestly curious about this.

For general phone, texting, and browsing use I can't tell the difference between 1080p and 1440p or more. But consuming video or static images? Absolutely it makes a difference. I greatly prefer consuming YouTube content my 500+ ppi galaxy s6 than my 13in 1080p laptop. OLED probably has a lot to do with it but honestly anything less than ~200ppi looks positively archaic now to my eyes. I also appreciate the ability to change the scaling on Android now so that I can actually put the extra pixels to good use and fit more on the screen.

The S8 is one of the weakest design, it is so fragile it cracks and scratches more than the IPhone 7. The curved side screens are so useless that it becomes an issue with video viewing as it gets cropped off due to being bezel-less.

So obviously you don't own an S8... I prefer a metal back but the S8 is very far from the weakest design and in my experience it doesn't scratch more than any other high end phone I have used in my life including aluminum backed phones like the Nexus 6P.

Search for Samsung S8 drop tests. You will find the S8 and S8+ are some of the most fragile modern flagships *ever*. "Pfft, I use a case!" They are even harder to protect with cases, because many cases compromise protection in order to accommodate the beautiful but breakable display.

Users complaining about a glass back being useless: On many phones, the metal-loking surface under the glass back is fake (plastic painted with an anondized aluminum or metal type paint), so having a glass back allows for much better radio reception for your bluetooth, LTE, wifi, etc when compared to metal counterparts.

That said, I 100% feel that the LG G-series should be the "standard smartphone" variant and the V-series should be the "nerd variant with weird test features, replaceable batteries, IR blasters etc". Because someone's got to cover that niche.

The V30 is just shaping up to be an amoled G6, which might be nice next to the Note 8, but its not really much of an improvement over the G6 and it leaves loyalists who loved the battery swapping out in the cold.

The LG V20 is [...] boasting some top notch playback capabilities, LG has bundled in a selection of new recording features, both hardware and software,[...]

The LG V20 features the latest ES9218 DAC from ESS, which features a parallel sub-DAC configuration to improve noise performance and total harmonic distortion. The chip boasts theoretical maximums of 130SNR, 124dB DNR and -112dB THD+N

The chip also features a dedicated headphone amp with a high 2Vrms output, which should help to reduce the effects of signal loss with headphones of different impedance. There’s a 75 stage analog volume control and hardware left/right channel balancing controls too.

Is it better than the V10?

Compared with the quite superb sounding LG V10, the newer V20 DAC and amplifier’s paper specifications are a very close match. The V10’s ES9018 and 9602 amplifier combination offer an ever so slightly better dynamic range and lower distortion characteristics than the V20’s ES9218. However, the ES9218’s new Quad DAC design lends itself to a superior signal-to-noise ratio of 130dB versus 122dB. We should also note that the smartphones’ circuit design and signal path will lower these theoretical maximum results, and in reality the two are likely to be incredibly close.

Well considering the Pixel looks to be axing the jack. And I'm HATING how god damn narrow the S8+ is making it difficult to type. This will probably be my next phone.

Ugh, I'd missed that the Pixel is axing the headphone jack. I may very well be on board with you then, a good camera and IP68 are two of my big requirements, and this push to axe the headphone jack is making that a third showstopper for me.

Well considering the Pixel looks to be axing the jack. And I'm HATING how god damn narrow the S8+ is making it difficult to type. This will probably be my next phone.

Ugh, I'd missed that the Pixel is axing the headphone jack. I may very well be on board with you then, a good camera and IP68 are two of my big requirements, and this push to axe the headphone jack is making that a third showstopper for me.

Its not official yet. But there is a lot of strong circumstantial evidence from multiple sources. Originally it was that the smaller Pixel was going to ax the jack. But in the last month a number of sources have said it will be both

I've been waiting to upgrade my NOTE4 to this phone, but since it doesn't appear to have a removable battery, I won't bother. Every brand makes disposable glass phones now.

Samsuck has been shorting power users with gimmick features and removing important ones while price going up. The Note 3 and Note 4 were high spec and feature pack at it's release time. Each subsequent release samsuck removes features. Note 7 should came with SD 821, instead we got SD820 and they wanted $200 more than S7 edger msrp.

Getting rid of the removable battery is a bad choice. They were the last flagship device maker which still featured that.

Maybe I will grab a V20 for my next phone (currently have a V10).

I switched to the Samsung Galaxy series for the removable battery and SD card slot. Samsung got rid of those, so I switched to the LG G and later V series. Now LG is getting rid of them as well. I feel like I'm the only customer that prefers a usable phone over a pretty one.

Getting rid of the removable battery is a bad choice. They were the last flagship device maker which still featured that.

Maybe I will grab a V20 for my next phone (currently have a V10).

That. My G3's battery lost enough output capacity within two years that high-draw things would cause the phone to crash. Brand new battery straight from LG for $15 and it's working fine since. I don't buy flagship phones to replace the whole damn thing when battery dies. I buy them because they're higher-specced than the average phone for the next 5+ years, so that removable battery (and storage) is the go/no-go deciding factor.

Does it really matter if it's got a removable back panel if the phone gets a high iFixit teardown score? Generally all you need is a plastic pick, spudger, and maybe a heat pad/gun to replace the battery in 10 minutes.

You just answered your own question while describing it. Any procedure requiring a

Quote:

"plastic pick, spudger, and maybe a heat pad/gun to replace..."

Anything, puts said procedure and by extension the product, firmly outside the realm of most consumer's ability to fix on their own. Sure its not a problem for most here since its a tech focused site and we know those tools by heart but I doubt the average user can do it in just 10 minutes like you say or would even want to attempt it at all out of fear of causing more damage.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the point of jamming high end desktop resolutions onto a 6" screen? Im in no way a phone enthusiast, and am honestly curious about this.

For normal phone use, it is overkill. I think anything over 1920x1080 is overkill, so in Samsung terms that would be S6+.

But if you use VR, then even 2880x1440 is far from enough. Apparent horizontal pixel size on VR is around 6x larger than on normal display, and that is obviously bad thing - you do not want stuff to look pixelated. Half of those 6x comes due to splitting those 2880 in two , one picture for each eye (so 1440x1440 per eye). Remaining 3x difference is due to VR screen being much closer to eye ( field of view for Gear VR is over 100 degree, while regular monitor is around 30-35 degree ). In other words, horizontal pixel size would be comparable to 22" monitor at 1m distance with 400x300 resolution ... obviously far from perfect.

I've recently (for reasons) gone from a Moto Z Play to an iPhone 7, to a OnePlus 3T, and then to a LG G6.

The G6 is by far and away the best phone of the lot. OK, the Z Play is a mid-range phone, but it would have been excellent except for the 625 SOC which more or less killed performance. The iPhone7 was fine, but the display was terrible compared to any Android phone of any decent pricing. The 3T was fine too, but after 3 months the battery was already starting to have difficulties, even after a wipe and set up from fresh it was still struggling to make it through a day - not a problem it had from new.

So, the G6. It's LCD, but really I'm having difficulty telling. I had to check to see if it was AMOLED, it really is that good on colours and brightness. The camera(s) are great. Battery life is excellent, and it even supports Qualcomm Quickcharge which works with my various Anker chargers, unlike OnePlus with their own stupid Dash charger, and Apple with their charging system from 10 years ago.

How is LG planning on preventing burn-in with their always-on display? My Galaxy S5 has a partial burn-in of the status bar, so any full-screen app will show a ghost bar. Looking at photos really shows off the burn-in area.

Since this is an OLED screen, it would be susceptible to burn-in. Always-on displays sound like a bad combination.

I'd love After Dark screensavers to make a comeback on phones. Flying toasters, please!

A metal, removable back and ability to carry 3 fully charged batteries in my pocket is simply no match for a glass, smashable back and ability to carry 1 power brick.

I'm eeking out the last life of my G4 at the moment, I was hoping that the V30 (given that it'll finally be available in my region) was going to be the new flagship I could go for, but sadly not.

Having a tiny battery in my pocket that I can swap in in seconds for a full charge is infinitely preferable than having to lug a power brick around, and then when I'm low I have to plug in and wait for hours to get a full charge.

I've largely given up on removable storage as being a priority now (although still better than not!) but seeing the end of removable batteries is hugely disappointing.

Getting rid of the removable battery is a bad choice. They were the last flagship device maker which still featured that.

Maybe I will grab a V20 for my next phone (currently have a V10).

That. My G3's battery lost enough output capacity within two years that high-draw things would cause the phone to crash. Brand new battery straight from LG for $15 and it's working fine since. I don't buy flagship phones to replace the whole damn thing when battery dies. I buy them because they're higher-specced than the average phone for the next 5+ years, so that removable battery (and storage) is the go/no-go deciding factor.

Does it really matter if it's got a removable back panel if the phone gets a high iFixit teardown score? Generally all you need is a plastic pick, spudger, and maybe a heat pad/gun to replace the battery in 10 minutes.

Yes it does.

Currently I can carry a spare (or two) batteries in a pocket of anything I might be wearing (jeans, suit, perhaps not swimming trunks but you get the picture), if I get low on juice i pop the back of the phone swap the batteries and pop the back on again. It takes maybe 15 seconds and I'm back to having full battery.

Compare that to your suggestion, which is fine for permanent battery replacement but doesn't fix the convenience of having a replaceable battery.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the point of jamming high end desktop resolutions onto a 6" screen? Im in no way a phone enthusiast, and am honestly curious about this.

It's really quite simple and Apple used to do it.Start with 720 by 1280, which was the first "good" screen resolution and worked fine for the 4-4.5 inch displays at the time.When you get to a 5.5 inch screen, 720 by 1280 is a bit grainy. Small text is not the easiest to read.Increase to 1080 by 1920 and you need to interpolate 2 pixels into 3 in each direction for smoothing.But double the resolution, to 1440 by 2560, and each original pixel can now be smoothed into a 4 pixel block. The result is that the many, many apps designed to work with 720 by 1280 can be made to look better at 1440 by 2560 because for 1080 by 1920 they must be "smeared" before smoothing, and the results don't look so sharp. It's quite easily visible if you put two screens side by side. Of course, it is also easy to reduce power consumption by switching 4 pixels at a time and giving an effective 720 by 1280, with an LCD display, whereas downsampling 1080 by 1920 gives an effective 540 by 960 display.The tl;dr is that if you can make a 1440 by n (>=2560) display with a good yield, it's going to be a better display for anyone who uses the screen as a reader, as well as giving better rendition of photos.

Getting rid of the removable battery is a bad choice. They were the last flagship device maker which still featured that.

Maybe I will grab a V20 for my next phone (currently have a V10).

It does if I can't personally order a single replacement battery directly from whoever makes the phone. 99% of so-called "OEM" batteries from Amazon.com or eBay or anywhere else are shitty Chinese counterfeit knock-offs that don't actually hold even half of their labeled capacity, lack temperature sensors to prevent overheating, and/or don't even fit correctly.

I had that problem too, so I ended up buying Anker brand batteries for my old S5. They worked pretty good. Defintiely bought at least one Chinese counterfeit samsung battery. It swelled up after 6 months. The anker batteries turned out to be pretty good.

Also, I really like the V20. Its a great phone and the removable battery is what moved me from the Samsung world. I don't regret it.

I bought the V20 specifically for the removable storage and the removable battery.

Its been great. I am much happier than I would have been with a similarly powered Note 7.

The cool camera stuff is nice, the HD audio only works with the headphone jack plugged in, so thats kinds stupid since everything is bluetooth now.

Why would they get rid of the second screen? Its perfect for spotify or playing back songs at the gym or in the car. I can forward songs without even looking at the phone. Its probably the very best feature I didn't know I was going to get.

If they get rid of that and the removable battery, then I guess I will shop somewhere else for the next one.